I was looking at freezer today at the local appliance stores and they had very few, the salesman said they had sold a lot of them in the last few days, people are thinking it is going to get rough and are buying freezers to stock up on food.

OK folks, I'm going to need some help here. I want this thread to measure obamas performance. There is no way I can keep up with all that's going on, so I'll need your inputs.

I don't want only the things that he misses on, but also the things he comes through with. Please, no discussion here, we'll do that on another thread.

CR

ramlovingvet...if you have any inputs for the next month, PM them to me.

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TO ALL MEMBERS:

I just wanted to remind everyone that we are trying to keep this thread restricted to stuff going on in Obama's New Administration and the "Performance", both GOOD AND BAD with what is going on there.
As DTR Member "crobtex" said above, let's try to keep the "discussion" of these subjects out of here if we can. Start another thread if you guys want to debate or discuss issues. Thanks alot!

^ ^^^ Link to entire text of President-elect Obama at a news conference Friday in Chicago, as transcribed by CQ Transcriptions: Nov. 7,2008

(2) questions asked at the end. Responses VERY interesting.

1. He wouldn't answer about national intelligence, whether he has now learned anything that he spoke about in ignorance while campaigning. Hhmm. Silence again is golden!!
2. Tax increases for the wealthy. No response at all, just more drivel about the middle-class needing help, but without the tax increases from the wealthy how or what will he redistribute to the peons?? Back pedaling from his campaign PROMISES to the middle-class. Maybe he did the math and figured out how much more he is going to have to pay under his proposed tax increases to the wealthy. We know how TIGHT he is with his money!!

Q: You are now privy to a lot of intelligence that you haven't had access to before, in fact, much of what the president sees, I'm sure all of it.

First of all, do you — what do you think about the state of U.S. intelligence, whether you think it needs beefing up, whether you think there's enough interaction between the various agencies?

And, second of all, has anything that you've heard given you pause about anything you've talked about on the campaign trail?

OBAMA: Well, as you know, if ... if there was something I had heard, I couldn't tell you. But...

Q: (OFF-MIKE)

OBAMA: I have received intelligence briefings. And I will make just a general statement: Our intelligence process can always improve. I think it has gotten better. And, you know, beyond that, I don't think I should comment on the nature of the intelligence briefings. That was a two-parter. Was there another aspect to that?

Q: Well, just whether — you know, absent what you've heard...

OBAMA: OK, I get you.

Q: ... whether anything has given you pause.

OBAMA: I'm going to skip that.

Q: Mr. President-elect, do you still intend to seek income tax increases for upper-income Americans? And if so, should these Americans expect to pay higher taxes in 2009?

It also provided for cuts in capital gains for small businesses, additional tax credits. All of it is designed for job growth.

My priority is going to be, how do we grow the economy? How do we create more jobs?

I think that the plan that we've put forward is the right one, but, obviously, over the next several weeks and months, we're going to be continuing to take a look at the data and see what's taking place in the economy as a whole.

But, understand, the goal of my plan is to provide tax relief to families that are struggling, but also to boost the capacity of the economy to grow from the bottom up.

Have to put this one up here. Obama coming in with guns blazing to "undo" all the policies enacted during President Bush's 2 terms that he doesn't like or agree with.

"President-elect Obama plans to use his executive powers to make an immediate impact when he takes office, perhaps reversing Bush administration policies on stem cell research and domestic drilling for oil and natural gas. John Podesta, Obama's transition chief, said Sunday Obama is reviewing President Bush's executive orders on those issues and others as he works to undo policies enacted during eight years of Republican rule. He said the president can use such orders to move quickly on his own."http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081110/...go_pr_wh/obama

CHICAGO (AP) -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is among the candidates that President-elect Barack Obama is considering for secretary of state, according to two Democratic officials in close contact with the Obama transition team.

Clinton, the former first lady who pushed Obama hard for the Democratic presidential nomination, was rumored to be a contender for the job last week, but the talk died down as party activists questioned whether she was best-suited to be the nation's top diplomat in an Obama administration.

The talk resumed in Washington and elsewhere Thursday, a day after Obama named several former aides to President Bill Clinton to help run his transition effort.

The two Democratic officials who spoke Thursday did so on the condition of anonymity to avoid angering Obama and his staff. Clinton spokesman Philippe Reines referred questions to the Obama transition team, which said it had no comment.

Other people frequently mentioned for the State Department job are Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., and New Mexico's Democratic governor, Bill Richardson.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President-elect Barack Obama promised the voters change, but he has started his Cabinet selection process by naming several Washington insiders to top posts.
Obama is enlisting former Senate leader Tom Daschle as his health secretary. Hillary Rodham Clinton seemed more likely than ever to be his secretary of state. Clinton is deciding whether to take that post as America's top diplomat, her associates said Wednesday.
Obama is ready to announce that his attorney general will be Eric Holder, the Justice Department's No. 2 when Clinton's husband was president. Rahm Emanuel, Obama's chief of staff, is another veteran of the Clinton White House.
A few names that have bubbled up for Cabinet posts don't have strong Clinton connections. Several news organizations reported Thursday that Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano is Obama's primary choice to be secretary of the Homeland Security Department. The New York Times, citing Democrats with knowledge of the process, said Napolitano was about to be offered the job. The Washington Post and The Politico Web site also reported that she was Obama's choice.
Chicago businesswoman Penny Pritzker, who was national finance chairman for Obama's presidential campaign, is his leading choice for commerce secretary, the Times reported. The newspaper said Pritzker was in the final stages of vetting by Obama's transition team.
Daschle's selection to head the Health and Human Services Department - confirmed Wednesday but not yet announced - isn't at the same level of Cabinet prestige as the top spots at the State and Justice departments. But the health post could be more important in an Obama administration than in some others, making Daschle a key player in helping steer the president-elect's promised health care reforms.
Daschle could push Obama for quick action on health care reform next year, if he follows his own advice.
Daschle said efforts during the Clinton administration, led by Hillary Clinton, took too long and went into too much detail, giving every interest group an opportunity to find something they didn't like about the plan.
"The next president should act immediately to capitalize on the goodwill that greets any incoming administration. If that means attaching a health-care plan to the federal budget, so be it," Daschle wrote in a book he released this year, "Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis." "This issue is too important to be stalled by Senate protocol."
The former South Dakota senator's return to the government will be a vindication of sorts. He was the Senate Democratic leader when he was defeated in 2004 by Republican John Thune, who convinced voters back home that Daschle was more concerned with Washington than with them.
In fact, Daschle stayed in the capital city after his defeat, becoming a public policy adviser and member of the legislative and public policy group at the law and lobbying firm Alston & Bird. Daschle isn't registered as a lobbyist. He advises clients on issues including health care, financial services, taxes and trade, according to the firm's Web site.
Health care interests, including CVS Caremark, the National Association for Home Care and Hospice, Abbott Laboratories and HealthSouth, are among the firm's lobbying clients.
Daschle's appointment was not formally announced, but Democratic officials said the job was his barring an unforeseen problem as Obama's team reviews his background. One area of review will include the lobbying connections of his wife, Linda Hall Daschle, who has worked mostly on behalf of airline-related companies over the years. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
Republicans sniped at what they saw as an unwelcome trend. Alex Conant, spokesman for the Republican National Committee, said, "Barack Obama is filling his administration with longtime Washington insiders."

The Associated Press has confirmed that President-elect Barack Obama will announce his economic team on Monday, tagging New York Federal Reserve President Tim Geithner for Treasury Secretary.

Barring last minute changes, the nominee for Treasury Secretary will be NY Fed President Tim Geithner -- a career Treasury official under both Bob Rubin and Larry Summers -- who actually had worked at the Treasury in three administrations under five Secretaries -- going back to 1988.

Geithner has been a key player in the current economic crisis -- helping Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and his team manage the wall street bailout.

By Jeff Mason and Tom Doggett
CHICAGO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President-elect Barack Obama is not planning to implement a windfall profit tax on oil companies because prices have dropped below $80 a barrel, an aide said on Tuesday.
"President-elect Obama announced the policy during the campaign because oil prices were above $80 per barrel," an aide on Obama's transition team said. "They are currently below that now and expected to stay below that."
Oil prices have fallen from a record $147 a barrel in July to under $50 this week.
Obama, who signaled early in his campaign for the White House that he would take an active approach to oil markets as president, had planned to use the revenue from a windfall profits tax to fund a tax rebate for low- and middle-income families struggling with high energy prices.
But the aide said Obama's presidential campaign had already taken the price drop into account six weeks ago. When Obama laid out his economic plan for the middle class in mid-October, revenue from a windfall profit tax was not included because of the price change, he said.
Oil companies steadfastly opposed a tax, saying it would stifle exploration and innovation.
The switch drew applause from industry.
"The judgment to withdraw the concept of a windfall profits tax is an important recognition that developing America's oil and natural gas would be seriously damaged by such a tax policy," said Lee Fuller, vice president of government relations for the Independent Petroleum Association of America, which represents independent oil and gas producers.
"A windfall profits tax is bad policy at any price," said Thomas Pyle, president of the Institute for Energy Research, calling the move "a heartening development -- both for consumers and an economy struggling to claw its way out of recession."
Many energy experts warned that imposing a windfall profits tax would discourage energy companies from drilling for oil in the United States, which would exacerbate U.S. reliance on foreign suppliers.
But environmentalists support a tax and want oil companies to invest more in renewable fuels.
Obama has made revamping U.S. energy policy a key priority of his upcoming presidency, promising to increase production of renewable energy sources and start a carbon trading system to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
He said recently that the fall in gasoline prices was not an excuse to put off tackling U.S. dependence on foreign oil.
Oil Tycoon T. Boone Pickens, who met with Obama during the campaign to discuss energy policy, said he was against a windfall profits tax but did not believe the decision not to implement one would affect domestic oil production.
"The windfall profits tax won't have anything to do with killing any oil projects," Pickens told reporters in Washington.

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